27-Oct-2012 – I had been in Chicago on a business trip and was already on my way home. In the morning I checked out at the hotel and then I checked in my luggage at O'Hare International Airport. A few hours remained until my flight's departure in the evening. As I had already been to Chicago down town, I wanted to grab the opportunity and visit the nearby confluence point. I looked for a taxi and explained to the driver that I wanted to go to Elk Grove Village, 70 Brentwood Avenue to take a few pictures and then return to the airport. He didn't ask questions and off we went.

I didn't have my Garmin Summit GPS with me, but a GPS logger and my smartphone with GPS. So I was confident to be able to prove the success. But while we were on the road, my smartphone crashed for inexplicable reasons and after that the GPS function was no longer available. At the same time my PDA refused to connect to the GPS logger, and I realized, that I couldn't verify the exact position at the spot and had to rely on the street address being precise enough for a successful visit. Being without a GPS display was a new experience for me while being on a confluence hunt and got me a bit nervous.

While I was working on my gadgets, the taxi driver asked my what was so special with this address. I explained the Degree Confluence Project to him and he wanted to know, whether there would be more foreign tourists visiting the place. But as we arrived, no one was on the streets, of course. I got out of the car, walked around the taxi and took pictures of the four cardinal directions. As already known, the spot lies in a suburban residential neighbourhood with detached houses with gardens. As it was already October, some of the trees had already lost their leaves. Due to not having a GPS to zero out, I omitted the confluence dance. But the GPS logger as well as the pictures taken confirmed afterwards at home that I had been at the right spot. After a short time we returned to the airport. All together the whole adventure took about 50 minutes and the taxi made a distance of about 27 miles.